Discouraged
Today, about half a dozen times, I had someone tell me that I was an idiot, or that my code was crap, or that packages I maintained were useless, or that I was doing things wrong. This, unfortunately, it typical for Gentoo (and FOSS, in general, I guess) development. It sucks my energy to develop.
Today, I had one person tell me I was awesome and helpful. This was great, and made me feel good, and made me want to develop.
Unfortunately, this is not typical. It’s rare that this happens even once in a week; not often enough to make up for all the negative energy. And that is even more depressing.
So, I’m getting discouraged. The question then becomes, if I stop working on Gentoo, what do I do with my time? Do I work on upstream Gnome? Do I start a coding project of my own? Maybe jump ship entirely to some other alternative OS? Do I even continue to run Gentoo, once I can’t contribute to it? Or switch to something else? If so, what?
Don’t mind me, I’m in a pissy mood.
UPDATE: Thanks for all the kind words. But honestly, I wasn’t asking for pats on the back, just venting. I know you won’t believe me, but…
No dude. Just take a break if you think It ll help you. As you said , people dont realise that FOSS development is a hobby, and something we do on our spare time. It is not a job. We are trying to do our best. Every FOSS developer is getting demotivated from time to time but then a users comes and encourages you and you get your motivation back.
So , def DONT quit, but maybe some days/weeks off might help you get your strength back
I’ll give you a virtual hug and all is good
If somebody tells that my work was not good enough, it’s the best motivation reason for me to try to make even more effort and do it better.
Just because it’s easy for those who enjoy/benefit from your work to take it for granted doesn’t mean we don’t exist. Don’t give it up, and just take a break for a while.
Well for what it’s worth, as a long time silent gentoo user/admin, I thank you for all the hard work that makes Gentoo my choice. Nothing comes close, and its due to the countless hours of free work you guys put in.
First off, a big thank you for your effort in contributing to the Gentoo project, which brings the goodness to me as a Gentoo user. Also, have a break and don’t get yourself burn out due to the negative energy. Afterall, we can’t please everyone, can we?
You are not really being discouraged. Believe me! In fact, being a Gentoo develuper is an encouragement, for most people. However, you should understand that people are usually unconfortable to say “you are great” unless they really enjoy your work. So, you should find your own great happiness of your own.
Even they are silent, many of your colleagues need you and they are blessing you. Many of your friends help you. Don’t be so sad, guy!
And, you did a great work and thank you for your contribution.
Thanks for all your work.. Remember, its typically only when things don’t work we find out who the maintainers and developers are ( Lennart comes to mind whenever I have an audio problem even if its my amp overheating).
Just remember, the people calling you an idiot are only doing so because it’s all they know. If anything, they’re jealous that you contribute something to society.
Which is why you won’t hear much from the group of people grateful for what you do, even though there’s far more of them – they’re all busy doing stuff.
Gentoo is a special distro, gentoo devs are special people. I have great respect to every single gentoo dev, you included. You make our distro great. Thank you.
In general, people who bad-mouth linux developers are typically winbloze users. Have pity for them… they will never realise their computer’s full potential.
It’s good to vent as well. Sometimes taking a few days or a week or so off from development might help.
Whats ironic here is that the people that are saying that, probably could not even display “Hello World” into their terminals.
I have used a lot of operating systems over the years, and Gentoo is by far my favorite. Trust me, you and your fellow devs are appreciated, and respected.
They are probably just kids trying to put you down to make themselves look better because of their low self esteem.
Thanks and good luck,
Hi! I do understand how you feel, and I’m not into anything computers. I’m a writer. Few understand the hours and hours that go into a novel, fewer still realize how much has been edited out of it. There are those in my life who are extremely discouraging, and I know if I was working a 9 to 5 job slaving away in a cubicle, I’d have all the support in the world…
Thanks for your work. Gentoo is really great, I tried many linux distro and found that gentoo is what I really want. Just randomly browsered your blog and want to say thank you.